SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - Marian University men's volleyball (0-4, 0-0 NACC) finished its opening weekend with a straight-sets loss to Thiel and five-set defeat against Eastern Mennonite.
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VS. THIEL (L, 3-0, 25-16, 25-17, 27-25)
- The Tomcats were able to start strong opening the match with a 16-9 lead.
- This allowed Thiel to cruise to an opening-set victory.
- The second set was identical as Theil led 16-9 before taking a 2-0 lead.
- Marian fought back in the third and led 16-12 only for Thiel to cut that lead down to one.
- The Sabres maintained its slim lead and had a set-point chance at 24-23.
- Thiel rallied, however, scoring four of the next five points to earn the sweep.
- Marian did stave off one match-point opportunity for the Tomcats.
VS. EASTERN MENNONITE (L, 3-2, 25-20, 25-16, 20-25, 18-25, 15-4)
- The second match of the day opened with Eastern Mennonite leading 11-10 before scoring nine of the next 10 points to take the opening set.
- The second set had the Royals jump out to a fast start leading 18-8 to go ahead 2-0.
- Just like the opening match, Marian didn't back down and led most of the third set.
- With a 22-20 lead, the Sabres were able to record three straight kills to keep the match going.
- With that momentum, Marian played its best set of the day opening with an 11-6 lead.
- The Royals cut their deficit down to one, but Marian finished the set on a 6-2 run to force a fifth set.
- Eastern Mennonite staved off the reverse sweep opening the fifth set by scoring 11 straight points.
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VS. THIEL
- The Tomcats finished with a 37-31 edge in kills, while Marian led in the back row with 34 digs to only 32 for Thiel.
- Thiel was able to record nine blocks to only four for the Sabres and hit .278 in the match.
- This was the first match this season Marian suffered a sweep.
- Each team now has one win in the all-time series.
VS. EASTERN MENNONITE
- The Royals had a 53-47 advantage for kills, but the Marian back row had 58 digs to only 51 for the Royals.
- Marian only hit .182 for the match and had a negative attack percentage in the fifth set.
- The Sabres are 0-2 on the season in five-set matches.
- This was the first meeting between the two programs.
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